Robotrek

"A good game that's still fun to play"

First off, I would just like to say that Robotrek is one of the most entertaining RPGs that I have ever played. It's a simple story of a genius inventor kid who fights off an army of bumbling robots by building an army of bumbling robots. Ok, you only build three, but that's still an army by RPG protagonist standards. Rather than rely on storyline depth and character development, Enix uses generic characters for comedic effect. Like all comedy, it's hit or miss. Some will love it, others will despise it (which you can probably infer by looking at the review scores).

You don't buy most of your weapons and items in the game, instead you build them from resources you find or buy. In your labs you have the machinery (which looks like a giant SNES controller) that can create new items (low level ones), upgrade existing items by combining two items to get one better one, repair/upgrade/build robots, and so on. Your robots have stats just like any RPG character, which come in the form of points you can distribute among the various attributes like power, stamina, etc. As your human character levels up, he gets more points to give to each robot. This system of choosing your style of leveling up has been used a fair amount, especially among western RPGs. What is different is the fact that you can redistribute the values whenever you have access to your lab. This lets you tweak each robot for a specific area, where sometimes a defense is the best offense and other times where smashing your way through is the best solution.

Along with robots you can also make the weapons they use, and there are a lot of weapon types to choose from. You have standard short range swords, long range guns, and missiles, as well as axes, lasers, and more. In addition to weapons you can create items like shields and boots which boost your non-attack stats. You can also create special moves by programming combinations of your left, right, and rear (missile) weapons. Some are useless, others are incredibly powerful attacks. You have to experiment to find what works for you. A lot of the game involves experimenting with different combinations and inventions to find the best (assuming you don't cheat and just look it up in a strategy guide/FAQ).

The battle system is not particularly exciting – just a variation on the standard turn-based systems that companies like Enix and Squaresoft used for almost all of their RPGs back then. When in battle, your human character does not fight, instead the robots (one at a time) do all of the fighting. There are three lanes (horizontal positions) that the enemies and robot can move around in. When you are able to move, you go to the lane you want to attack in and press the button for the weapon you want. The robot can only move in a small area each turn, so if you can't get to your enemy you will have to use your long range guns instead of your more powerful short-range weapons. Each weapon uses a certain amount of energy, and you can't move again until that energy is fully recharged. More powerful weapons like bombs use a lot of energy, but swords use very little. There is a fair amount of strategy involved considering the simplistic nature of the battle system.

Unfortunately the encounter rate is fairly high, so you will have to fight a lot of battles or run away often (fortunately you can almost always run). Even if the enemies aren't killing you it gets annoying after a while. Adding to the redundancy of the enemy fights, the battles are not random. You will see the enemies on the screen and when you approach them the battle begins. Rarely can you simply walk around them, since they will chase you down if they spot you and are generally placed right where you need to go. It is nice to have something different than the random encounters that were prolific throughout this era.

In addition to enemies on the battle screen there will also be capsules, which can be a blessing or a curse; sometimes both at the same time. Usually they contain some kind of healing item, but others are explosives, rust (poison) traps, or other dangers. No, you can't take the easy way out and destroy them from a distance – you have to use swords or axes up close. They also have a tendency to get in between you and the enemy, preventing you from getting a direct shot off at them. Some weapons like bombs can fly over them and lasers can go through them, but a lot of times they will be in your way.

Overall it is a fairly easy game since the enemies aren't usually too powerful. Usually they're really hard when you first enter a new area, so you spend a little while leveling up and learning their style of attacks and then push your way through. A few of the bosses are challenging, but in then end you won't have much trouble with the bad guys. Not only are the enemies underpowered, but it is very easy to overpower your robots. If you're willing to spend the time getting the resources and plan ahead, you can make very powerful weapons early on. You can also build three robots, so if one should fall you can just replace it, finish the battle, then repair the destroyed one.

The graphics are on par with games like Super Mario World or Final Fantasy VI (though much more cheery than the latter). There aren't any impressive special effects or immersive atmosphere, but given the comedic nature of the game, the bright cheeriness works. The sound isn't too impressive either, just your standard sound quality from a game of this era.

This game is very cliched, but that is where a lot of the humor comes from, so it's not a bad thing. It's defiantly worth trying out since it costs almost nothing to buy on eBay and you can emulate it very easily. I've played this game a lot, and I have never gotten bored with it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/23/05